I just got 2 flutes from Doug Tipple today. I asked him to make me a D flute of naked PVC pipe with the writing still on it, to match my Water Weasel whistle, and he did.
So today i get this enormous package from Doug, with the D flute and a G flute (also naked PVC with the writing), meticulously packaged. I mean, you’d think they were crystal flutes. I could tell by the packaging that the quality of the flutes was going to be very high.
And it is. They left me grinning like an imbecile, with an air of glauberic bliss on my face. These are seriously good flutes. The G flute is tunable by moving the blowhole! The D flute has a more standard tuning slide. The flutes are solid, a lot heavier than i had expected. The sound is strong and assertive.
The D flute has a plastic wedge that fits in the headjoint and fixes the natural tendency of cylindrical flutes to go phlat on the high register. The G flute didn’t come with a wedge, so it takes a little bit more control up there.
The finger stretch on the D is larger than on a typical conical Irish flute. The fingerholes are placed ergonomically, and that helps a little. Unless you have stubby short fingers like mine, you’ll be ok. I can manage too, but i’m a pro.
If you don’t already have a plastic flute (and maybe even if you have), do yourself a favor and buy one of these. Tell Doug that glauber sent you.
Mine is pretty loud…as loud as the Burns Folk Flute I had but maybe a bit more penatrating in its sound. I don’t have the “wedge” so I’m not sure if that affects the volume at all.
hah! i got a D flute from Doug in today’s mail too.
i’m just beginning to get to know it, but my first impression is very positive. the workmanship is simply superb. the polished finish on my gray flute is immaculate. the finger holes are perfect. the tuning slide is just right: neither loose or stiff. even the ends of the tubing have been slightly beveled. the overall feel is that of a high quality musical instrument.
haven’t had a lot of time playing it yet, so i’ll hold off on a full report til later. glauber’s “strong and assertive” works for me so far though. it seems quite easy to play as well.
The finger stretch on the D is larger than on a typical conical Irish flute.
hmmm. the finger hole spacing doesn’t seem much different than the conical flutes i have at the moment. the holes are a bit larger than usual for conical flutes. (i play piper’s style though, so these things are less of an issue for me.)
exceptionally nice work Doug! thanks for making these available.
enjoy! /dan
ps- one thing i noticed is that Doug’s tuning uses oxx|xoo for the 1st octave C natural cross fingering, instead of the oxx|ooo i’m used to on my other flutes. how common is oxx|xoo in Irish flutes generally?
Volume: being a cylindrical flute, it has a natural advantage over conical flutes there, the air flows more freely. This makes for a slightly different sound too, less dark. I don’t think the wedge affects the volume or quality of sound, it just tunes up the top of the second octave. The wedge is an easier way to achieve what Boehm did with his “parabolical” head: a gradual reduction of the air volume as you approach the cork.
Finish: i forgot to mention that Doug does a variety of different finishes, in case you’re not into the naked PVC look. In his Web site there are quite a few pictures.
Glauber - for a second there I thought you’d gone to the darkside…playing those pipes that start with U & not the kind you can patch your waterworks with.
Doug seems to have mastered the cylindrical flute which is great because it opens up the door for players who can’t afford, or don’t want, to spend several hundred dollars to get started.
I bought Doug’s 8-hole 3-piece dark-gray marblized flute this
summer and I LOVE it too!
The facts for me too were the price, and that it comes apart and
goes in a nice hard case for carrying around,
and I can PLAY IT!
I recommend this for beginners too.
Lolly
Yes, i thought it would be fun to get people thinking it was about the UPs. I changed the thread title now, so Doug can get some credit for his work.
I’m getting more cautious about posting clips of my playing, because it might hurt sales. Michael Eskin recorded a very good clip here (click). See also this thread (click).
I didn’t read the fingering chart (i don’t read manuals either), so i fingered the C the way i normally do, oxx_ooo, and it worked fine for me. But i didn’t check it against a tuner.
oxx_xoo is not very common. The usual alternative is oxx_xox, which is a nice fingering when you have a cdc triplet, because it’s one finger away of a d. But as people say, in Irish music, c is “somewhere between B and d”. All of these fingerings have interesting uses for them.
I’ve been putting off buying a flute - I’m getting more and more interested, but I hate to lay out the cash for something that I might not play. So I’ve been taking out my urges on a Dixon Duo cylindrical flute/whistle.
Is the Tipple a big step up, or should I just bite the bullet and get a conical flute (probably a Casey Burns Folk Flute, but maybe a Seery)?
I like low whistles, but I’ve been putting off buying more Low Ds, since I know that flute is really where I want to go (if I can play it well enough).
If you are getting sound out of the Duo I would say go conical like the Casey Burns folk flute. It will be much easier and sound much better than the Duo. Seery, M&E, or the new Ward flutes are a good option too.
I’m sure the Tipple is a great cylindrical, plastic flute but why spend the time and money on something you would just upgrade from anyway?
I’m on my third Tipple flute now. Started with the 1-piece D, now I’ve got a 3-piece in white PVC. I’m definitely a fan!
BTW, I compared my Tipple with a friend’s Seery a while back. Granted, I’m not much more than a beginning player, but I couldn’t tell any significant difference in sound or playability. Judging from an electronic guitar tuner, both were equally in tune. If anything, Tipple’s flute is lighter and easier for me to hold for longer periods. Without finding any other significant advantage (again, relative to my own inexperienced playing!) to the Seery, I found myself more likely to grab the Tipple.
I can’t speak for how the Tipple compares to the CB Folk. Someone else just did a comparison here, didn’t they?
I’ve tried a friend’s Grey Larsen Preferred and was blown away – that’s definitely in a whole other category to the Tipple! But I don’t think Doug’s out to compete in the high-end flute market here; I’d expect a $1200 flute to be drastically better than a $70 one.
My only issue with the PVC flute so far is that there’s nowhere for moisture to go. If your lower lip sweats when you play, it stays right there between you and the flute.
But lacking $1200 to spend on a flute, I think the Tipple is a great buy as either a beginning flute or a spare you can lug around with you.
Sorry to disagree with Aaron here. He’s a lot more experienced than I am, and maybe you’ve got more money to spend on these things than I have. If you decide you like playing the flute you will almost certainly want to upgrade some day, but does that mean you should spend $300 for your first flute?
I love this flute. It’s so much nicer than I thought it would be! If only I could play it.
Maybe I better practise more than the 1/2 hour I’ve given it so far during lunch.
My embouchure is not what it used to be.lol:
This is my first flute since gradeschool, I wanted durability and functionality, I have a PVC native american flute, (whistle-whatever), and I take it with me everywhere, everyday without worry. I would not haul around a more expensive flute as much. It is the ultimate trainer/practise instrument.
Terri :
I got mine last year, and it’s one of the ‘contact paper’ covered ones… I love it! I’d still love it if it said “rated to suchandsuch psi” on it in blue ink!
My friend here with the music store was so impressed with the sound that he wanted to carry them… Doug wasn’t wanting to work that hard yet… now… they are going to be joining the whistles (Susatos and O’Briens, as well as the Generations and Waltons) … great to see!
I got to session-play it tonight. It worked very well. After the mandatory slagging that you get for taking a piece of kitchen plumbing to session, people were well impressed with the sound. Even our main flute player, a hardline anti-plastite, liked said it had a “nice fat sound”.
glauber, how long would you say Doug’s turnaround time is, between contacting him and getting a flute?
I just asked him for one on Tuesday, and I was doing OK until I read this thread.
Now I’m getting excited… I wanna play it!
I could tell by the packaging that the quality of the flutes was going to be very high.
